Living Indie, the Netflix of live concerts

Gigs lovers, please read carefully… Now recreating the magic of live gigs in your own home or party is possible. Living Indie is creating a new way to experience music, providing a live streaming service that brings you the best indie-pop, indie-rock and electronica concerts in HD. We interviewed Andres Sanchez (@andressandaza), Living Indie founder and managing director.

Question. What was the origin of Living Indie (idea, founders, early days, etc.)?Answer. The origins of Living Indie stem from when I was doing an MBA at Cranfield School of Management. Before the MBA I used to run a small music festival called JamonPop with some good friends, so during the MBA I started working on an idea that would offer something new and exciting that also incorporated the current mega-trends in music consumption, live concerts, streaming and video. During this time some classmates helped me shape the idea and build an initial business plan.

At the end of the MBA I decided to follow up with the idea. Jorge Fernandez, an ex-colleague and programmer, joined the project. We launched in April 2013 and in May an old friend of mine, Alfonso, joined the project too. One of my fellow MBA students, Niels Footman, got progressively more involved and recently became a partner too.

Q. Living Indie has been chosen by Wayra, Telefonica’s global accelerator for start-ups, how has this changed your life?A. It’s only been three weeks since we moved into the Wayra offices, but suffice it to say, they’re pretty cool. Also, being with Wayra was a key factor in bringing our newest recruits, Elisa, Thomas and Carlos on board, and having the Wayra name has given us a big credibility boost when approaching new people and potential leads. We were selected from among more than 1,000 projects, which really means something and has given us a massive motivational boost. We know more clearly than ever that we have a fabulous opportunity, and it will only succeed through our work.

Q. Live streaming concerts seems like a fairly simple idea, isn’t this demand already covered by general video providers such as YouTube, Vimeo or Yahoo?
A. We think that the simplicity of the idea is one of its great strengths. Unlike some other startups, who may at first find it hard to convey clearly exactly what it is they offer, everyone gets us straight away. Regarding the companies you mention, while they all offer fantastic stuff, we provide, via our own portal, a new, more socially oriented way to experience live music. We have quite a specific niche, targeting high-quality, cultish or up-and-coming bands that can’t usually get this kind of exposure, and we offer our users a curated way of discovering the latest trends in contemporary music. Our ultimate aim is to become the Netflix of live concerts, and we feel there is no one delivering this at the moment.

Q. Evntlive, another live music online service, was bought by Yahoo in December 2013 after just 2 years, does a potential acquisition encourage you even more?
A. Yes, that was a positive signal. That means that there’s a market, that there’s demand and that the big players are already betting on these kind of propositions. We are currently looking for investors so news like this is of course very encouraging.

Q. How are your key metrics evolving (users per live streamed concert, number of concerts so far, revenue, etc.) and what’s your forecast in the short term?
A. Our numbers are growing consistently. Everything depends on the quality of bands we can draw in, so we’re focusing intensely on building up a great programme of concerts as we look to keep increasing our user base. We expect to do around 30 concerts over the next six months and to reach a global community of more than 50,000 followers.

Q. Living Indie has offices in Spain and in the UK, are there many differences between these two marketplaces?
A. Yes, the UK market is more mature and competitive with very consolidated industry players. However, it’s also much bigger (almost triple the size of the Spanish market), offers more opportunities and the potential for internationalization is really huge. Compared with Spain, it can be harder to get the attention of the key players in the UK — there are innumerable projects vying for people’s attention, so the key is to be patient and build up those crucial relationships.

Q. What is your favourite book and why?
A. I like to read fiction more than business books, which I get easily bored by! My favourite book recently has been “Freedom” by Jonathan Fraizer, which paints an amazing portrait of American society. The characters are complex and real and it also talks about music!!